On Saturday I made the journey back up to Cville for a pretty exciting week at MADabolic Cville, and an epic afternoon for Virginia Basketball.

In addition to a pretty full docket, our MAD team is preparing for a visit from Cristina (our favorite nutrition guru and lead trainer from the Charlotte location) by kicking off our 28toLife reset a week early.   As brutal as it is to give up wine and cider when I’m in the land of plenty, Charlottesville thankfully is one of the best places to possibly be when you are buying local and eating clean.

Saturday afternoon, after my obligatory and desperately scheduled nail appointment, my nervous cooking habit was in full force while Virginia Basketball took on Syracuse (right down the street at JPJ).  Whatever happened, I was making sure I at least won dinner.

For the menu at hand I broiled asparagus in the oven, and then payed it forward a little by popping in two spaghetti squash to roast for Sunday night’s dinner.  I can get pretty impatient when I’m hungry, so when I have the opportunity to do a little extra prep, I take it.

The meat portion of the meal was brought to life with some rib eyes that were unbelievably good, and were accompanied by more ‘make it just in case’ chicken since the grill was fired up.

The side carb/fat combination came in the form of a salad: romaine, kale, avocado, cucumber, and almonds in a balsamic vinegar/olive oil.  Bonus vegetable was cauliflower, grilled until tender, and it was the perfect addition to the whole meal.

Dinner was done by the end of the game, which we won pretty convincingly, and there was happiness all around HOOville.

It was a slow start into 28toLife, but the good news is that no one is hungry.  That’s the whole point — eat clean, fuel your body, and feel better.

This meal was everything I needed to get me through the night and kept me going for a long and strong interval on Sunday morning — and the marathon day that followed, including the BEST meal I’ve made in recent memory.